The invention relates to a method as disclosed in the preamble of claim 1.
Several different technologies for generating a digital 3D imaging data set in a broadly medical environment have been in use, such as 3D-CT, 3D-MRI, 3D-Ultrasound, 3D-Rotational Angio, 3D Rotational X-ray, and others. The medical environment includes without limitation the use of such visualizing for therapy planning, exploration, teaching, or veterinary, generally as applied to various tissue types that are relevant for living matter. Medica mundi, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 8-14, November 1998 describes a method for imaging a 3D volume of structures which comprises the following steps in succession: acquisition of images, collecting these images in a suitable manner for further processing, reconstructing a 3D image after previous correction, followed by visualization. The present inventors have recognized further advantages that may be attained by starting the reconstruction after acquisition with a limited initial range, followed by successive reconstructions of increasingly larger ranges until the full range has been obtained. In particular, such method would allow a view of the condition of the relevant area in an early stage of the acquisition in addition to the possibility of obtaining information from various angles of observation. The inventors have also recognized that in addition to customary visualization methods, the viewing of the above ranges would further allow the use of tomographic visualization to provide a user with even more pregnant information on the spatial details of the object under consideration.